Consumer Products

Businesses in the consumer products industry sector face challenges in meeting ever-changing customer demands and increasing competition from emerging markets. Investment in product development and branding can help meet these challenges but, without IP protection, this investment can be wasted.

At Mewburn Ellis, we provide a full IP service helping you to obtain and enforce patent protection for your technical innovations, trade mark registrations for your trade marks and design protection for the appearance of your products and packaging in the consumer products industry.

Patents for consumer products

Our consumer products team includes patent attorneys drawn predominantly from our chemistry & materials and engineering patent teams. These patent attorneys can help you obtain patents in the UK and Europe for your technical innovations in this sector. They can also call on their well-established network of foreign associates to obtain patent protection around the world.

Their technical expertise encompasses:

sports equipment

office equipment

containers & packaging

household implements

laboratory equipment

apparel & footwear

household detergents

beauty products & cosmetics

personal care products

The team also has considerable expertise in opposition & appeals before the European Patent Office, both defending patents granted to our clients and opposing patents granted to our clients’ competitors.

Design protection

Many consumer products derive at least some of their value from their design and some are instantly recognisable to the consumer as a result of their distinctive packaging. It is important to protect the aesthetic appearance of the product or packaging to maintain a competitive edge.

Protecting consumer product brands

Our team of trade mark experts working in the consumer products sector can help advise on the adoption of new trade marks to ensure that any risks of infringing a third party’s IP rights are minimised.

Once a new trade mark is chosen, they help our consumer product clients to secure trade mark protection by filing and prosecuting UK applications, European Union Trade Mark applications, covering the EU, and Madrid Protocol applications, for international protection.

They have an enviable reputation for successfully handling complex and multi-jurisdictional disputes through both opposition and other contentious proceedings, often in parallel with negotiating settlement agreements with the help of our dispute resolution team. They can also advise on domain name registration and have a proven track record in assisting clients against third parties in domain name disputes.

Business advice for the consumer products sector

We have a reputation for our client-focussed approach which allows us to be flexible – tailoring our advice to meet specific requirements, budgets and commercial goals. Whatever your size, you can be confident we will understand your business and provide practical, commercially-focused business advice.

Our in-house legal services team has considerable experience in assisting with exploitation of IP rights and transactional IP matters, including recordal necessitated by IP transactions.

If there is a need for IP training at any level within your business or you are part of a legal team that would benefit from our in-house assistance service, you will find Mewburn Ellis easy to work with and understanding of your commercial goals.

Finally, our renewals service provides a reliable and cost effective options for the payment of renewal fees for all IP rights across the consumer products sector.